Balancing games, of the general type wherein the players thereof each seek to ensure that an equilibrium configuration of a collection of items becomes unstable at the hand of players adverse in interest, have long been known.
An example of a game of this general type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,655 (Kurita), which relates to a BALANCING GAME. In the game described in the Kurita patent, an elastic support is provided. The elastic support has an upper horizontal support plate. A plurality of weight pieces are also provided, which are equally distributed amongst players at the start of a game. During a typical play scenario, the weight pieces are placed upon the upper support one-by-one in rotating turns by the players. The support tends to be more easily unbalanced and spill pieces with the increasing weight of the pieces. A player whose last-played piece causes a spill must take possession of the spilled pieces. The first player who exhausts his or her supply of pieces is the victor.
The readily perceptible tilting action of the balancing game described in the Kurita patent provides for great interest in play. However, this game has limited appeal to parents who would prefer that the competitive instincts of their children be manifest in individual self-achievement, rather than, as is the objective of this game, in the promotion of the failure of others. Further, this game suffers in that it does not reward the memory of players, and as such, has limited appeal to parents who would prefer that their children play games which exercise their memory skills. Further, this game suffers, in that it is easily mastered such that, as between experienced players, victory is usually a matter of chance. Accordingly, the game has limited appeal to persons other than children. Given that a significant proportion of game purchases relate to purchases made by adults for their own use, or by parents, for their children, all of the foregoing significantly detracts from the public acceptance of this game, despite the aforementioned great interest in play resultant from the tilting action.